Hard Liquor

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT HARD LIQUOR - PAGE 4

The Barrington Village Board has approved the last of three major increases in water and sewer rates in a 2-year span to help pay for replacements and improvements to village-owned pipes and other infrastructure. Taxpayers on May 1 will see their water bills increase by 10 percent and sewer bills by 15 percent, said Denise Pieroni, assistant village manager. Village trustees increased rates to cover operating and maintenance costs, Pieroni said. The last increase before the most recent ones was in 1986.

The Barrington Village Board has approved the last of three major increases in water and sewer rates in a 2-year span to help pay for replacements and improvements to village-owned pipes and other infrastructure. Taxpayers on May 1 will see their water bills increase by 10 percent, and sewer bills by 15 percent, said Denise Pieroni, assistant village manager. Village trustees increased rates to cover operating and maintenance costs, Pieroni said. The last increase before the most recent ones was in 1986.

From Franklin D. Roosevelt to George Bush, presidents wrestled with large issues from economic crisis to war that threatened the lives and livelihood of their fellow citizens. Partly because of the fall of the Soviet Union, the current holder of the office has time to pronounce on themes that make him sound like the president of the local school board or a morning talk-show host. After flogging the evil weed, President Clinton last week turned to the demon rum. On Tuesday he asked the Federal Communications Commission to study ways to prevent the hard-liquor industry from advertising products on television and radio.

When Britney Spears was photographed drinking in broad daylight Tuesday on a sidewalk in California, gossip rags were tripping all over themselves to declare her a "boozer." Maybe they should've checked the bottle first. "Entertainment Tonight" reports that the small brown bottle Spears was drinking from actually was an herbal energy drink. "ET" also tracked down the clerk at the convenience store where she reportedly stopped, and he insisted that the pop tart, who was out with fiance Kevin Federline, did not buy any liquor.

A restaurant featuring an outdoor cafe has been given the go-ahead to set up shop in Geneva's business district despite objections from nearby residents. The Geneva City Council on Monday granted the Berry House restaurant the special permit it needed to open its doors to the public. "Sometimes you need something special to bring people through the front door," Mayor Richard Lewis said, referring to the restaurant's building, at the corner of Third and Franklin Streets, which houses about a dozen tenants.

When a new White Hen Pantry opens Thursday in Elgin, it will sell everything its competitors in town do--except alcohol. And the new store, 1024 S. McLean Blvd., may not be the only new business that will stay dry. That's because a majority on the Elgin City Council, saying it wants to improve Elgin's image as well as public safety, has decided to end what it considers the city's lax policy of automatically granting liquor licenses to convenience stores and gas stations. "I don't think every convenience store and gas station should have to sell liquor," said Ed Schock, one of four council members who announced the new policy last week by denying the license for the new White Hen. "We need to apply some criteria to granting licenses, and not just automatically approving them," Schock said.

Serving up something for nearly everyone, Gov. George Ryan unveiled a massive five-year $12 billion program for roads, mass transit, school building and other local construction projects during a Tuesday joint session of the House and Senate. The Republican governor's "Illinois FIRST" plan would supply new money to upgrade the CTA's Blue and Brown Lines, repair the crumbling Lake Michigan shoreline and pump $200 million in state funds into Chicago school buildings, while easing chronic traffic bottlenecks in the suburbs.

It is one thing to demonize demon rum, but the forces trying to keep hard liquor from advertising on television have a more formidable foe in Texas television station owner T. Frank Smith. Last June, with one 30-second spot, the 70-year-old iconoclast made history and something shy of $400 for his KRIS-TV, the NBC affiliate in Corpus Christi. "It was a Crown Royal ad," Smith says. "Two dogs. One dog's got a sign that says `obedience school graduate' and the other's got the Crown Royal bag hanging in his mouth and the sign says `valedictorian.

Ahoy, seafaring females: A California sailing syndicate is seeking applicants for the first all-woman America's Cup Challenge crew. "It seems to have been a male-dominated sport, and we don`t think that's right," says Charles Ellery, commodore of the Portolo Yacht Club, and an organizer of the Santa Cruz Challenge that is assembling the female crew. Applicants have until Jan. 1 to furnish dossiers detailing their sailing experience and qualifications for a crew position. The 15 crew members-plus five alternates-who are selected must move to Santa Cruz, Calif.

At Jerry's Liquors in Highwood, the tiny store is so bulging with booze that the aisles dead-end in cardboard boxes. Sunlight barely knifes through a front window blocked by towers of Coors Light stacked 18 cases high. Like liquor retailers statewide, owner Greg Parsell said he did his best to stock up before a state tax increase took effect Thursday--a bump amplified by distributor and producer price hikes. "I figured we might as well get a little ahead of the higher prices," Parsell said.